What a splendidly exciting week we had! Wednesday morning we visited the doctor (yes, all 3 of us) for our big sonogram that would give us the latest stats on this belly baby and where we would learn baby's gender. As soon as the sonographer laid the wand on my belly we discovered that we are having another BOY! A wave of relief fell over Steven's face and the diagnosis just confirmed what I had been feeling all along. Early on I was hopeful that it was a girl, but I've known that it's a boy. Thanks be to God all the right parts and pieces were visible on the screen, and baby boy is measuring right where he needs to be. Matt absorbed the information that he was having a little brother, but was mainly interested in the box of gloves on the wall, the plugs, and the light switches. Sigh. My pregnancy this time around has felt exactly the same as it did with Matthew. Praise God it's been easy and I've felt really great the entire time. But, the tough weeks are yet to come as this baby boy starts to outgrow his tiny tummy space. So, I'm enjoying this time where I'm not outrageously huge yet--and the fact that I don't have to paint the baby room or shop for any baby clothes! We are definitely set for boys. A name? Seriously, you all know that Steven & I will go back and forth on it for many weeks to come. We shall see!This past weekend was the Austin City Limits Music Festival (http://www.aclfestival.com/takeover/). Friday afternoon I tagged along with Zach & Ava while Pam stayed home with Matt to see Vampire Weekend at the fest. It was HOT, but not as hot as last year thankfully. The show was awesome, and Ava did a great job sitting on her daddy's shoulders and swaying to the music. She also had on a custom made Vampire Weekend t-shirt, so she drew lots of "oohh's" and "aaahhh's" from onlookers; that and her pint-sized pink ear-muffs to protect her little ears, it was too cute. 
Saturday after a nice lunch at Burger Tex we settled in to watch UT beat the pants off Arkansas. Late that afternoon Steven & I and our friend/neighbor, Mike, headed down to ACL to watch Beck perform. The sun went down and it was much cooler in the evening. Beck put on a rockin' show and played a good mix of old and new material. 
Sunday morning we went to church and then ate some tasty mexican food at Pappasito's with the Moran clan and Rachel. Our lunch conversation was focused mainly on the dialogue between Caroline & Mary Claire brainstorming on what to be for Halloween. It was hilarious. Mary Claire would say, "I can be a beautiful butterfly, and Caroline you can be the cacoon!" And Caroline would suggest, "I can be a scary witch, and Mary Claire you can be the broom!" Good times. Steven, Zach, Mike & I headed off to ACL again that afternoon. I set up camp at the AT&T stage and watched Gnarls Barkley while the boys headed to a different stage to watch the Raconteurs. Gnarls was really good; they are known to put on quite a performance with different costumes and whatnot, and that evening they all had on white short sleeve button-downs with bow ties and thick nerd glasses. They were very entertaining, and I sang along with them!
The boys eventually returned toting John with them this time and we got ready for the headlining act, the Foo Fighters. A lot of you may not know this about me, but I am HUGE Foo fan and have been since their inception. Dave Grohl is a rock god and he makes my heart all aflutter when I watch him rip the guitar. Steven calls it my angry music. Maybe so. It's great car music and great work-out music. I think I have all their songs memorized. It's hard to get a good photo in the dark period, but pair that with a teeming crowd, clouds of dust & dirt, and not being able to actually see the stage and you end up with this photo...it's Dave Grohl up on the video screen, and I think this is the best pic we got. 
I had SO much fun. Their set was incredible--they played a lot of their hit songs old & new, and also some random songs off their many albums which I thoroughly enjoyed. I danced and bounced up & down as much as my pregnant belly would allow me and sang until my voice was getting hoarse. For me it was the highlight of the weekend and possibly the best show I've ever been to. And that is possibly because I love the Foo Fighters so much. I've got to see them again!
So the past couple days I've been recovering from my late nights. Whew! It was definitely harder on my pregnant body this year, but it was all well worth it. I had a blast. Today, Matt got a sticker at school because he told his teacher that his mommy is having a baby boy. Ha! He actually remembered, AND answered correctly when questioned! It's a miracle.
Pam's parents got word they had power again, so they headed out on Saturday. Steven's parents have been in town this weekend as well so we've enjoyed visiting with them, too. Matthew is so spoiled with all these people around to love and dote on him! Saturday Steven & I had the good fortune to attend the UT/Rice game with the Reners at the newly enhanced stadium. I really don't think I've attended a UT football game since I left college. Pitiful, no? We had some great seats up in the new northwest corner of the stadium. They were high up, but I was actually able to see everything, and for a petite person like me that is very exciting. And they were actual seats with a back to them! So nice. 
It was a little strange being on campus again and walking alongside what looked like kids that were way to young to be in college. And the cool thing for girls to wear to the game is cowboy boots and booty shorts. Eesh. The game was thoroughly enjoyable...it was a pleasant evening, we won the game, it was Alumni Band day so we got to see that old guy throw the baton waaaay up in the air and catch it (remember that dude, you UT alum??) and I got to see Major Applewhite up close on the jumbotron. Sigh. It was great.
Yesterday we went to church and then spent the afternoon and evening watching football here at Tim & Pam's house with the parents and the Reners. We had some awesome snacks, too. Good food really helps when your fantasy team is going down in flames. Just ask Steven. ;)
Okay, so this is funny. We went over to Zach & Joy's Saturday afternoon to watch the super-late Longhorn game, but truly the entertainment was our children. We all know how Ava loves to play dress up and is basically always in costume. She usually pleads with Matt to put on this or that and he most always says no. Well, Saturday afternoon Ava suited up in her adorable bunny outfit and asked Matt to wear the lamb. He agreed! And he even submitted to the head piece. For a little while. We kept getting them to hug each other and it was about the cutest thing we'd ever seen. They ran and danced and hugged on each other and we enjoyed laughing at the adorable scene. Matt eventually tired of the get-up. Poor Ralphie, huh? Later, the curtains were drawn in the big window and those two kept emerging from behind and dancing for us. It's awesome because Ava would come out first and Matt would follow her lead. The best was him doing some awkward boy stiff over-head arm movements and he totally tooted from the exertion. Oh so funny.
Our weekend was good. We watched a lot of football and got to hang out with the Moran clan out at their house yesterday after church. That is always a great day for Matthew. Here's another good one of Matt pushing the cat around on a cardboard box. That cat tolerates so much. It's great. 
Gustav and his threats of severe weather didn't scare us away, and we actually had beautiful weather the entire time we were there. There were however, prehistorically large mosquitoes that preyed on all of us and namely our sweet little tender-fleshed children. By the time Friday evening rolled around all 40 of us in our group had made it safely to Port A. It sounds like chaos, but everything ran really smoothly and most everyone made it down to the beach together every morning.
Matthew was an immediate fan of the beach. We went down to the water on Wed. evening when we arrived and Matt had a great time trying to find hermit crabs. He enjoyed going out into the waves too. In the subsequent days to follow he continued to enjoy going out into the deep and jumping the big waves. He also liked to jump them in more shallow water where he could stand up. He enjoyed playing in the sand and was really more into it if I would sit there with him and build a sand castle for him to destroy. Typically, he would play hard for an hour or so and then start whining for a snack. So he and I would go to the tent where the mommies of tiny babies were hanging out (Steven called it the leper tent) and empty my stash of snacks. Then he'd be ready to play again, and usually by then it was time for us to head up to the pool to rinse off. 
I think the pool was a hit with all the kids. Matthew particularly enjoyed the toys that Alison had brought and spent a large amount of time on the steps of the pool pouring water into toys that spun round and round. He loved it. With Ava as a catalyst, Matt began jumping from the side of the pool (from a standing position!) for the first time. That was big for him.
Once again, our beach trip was a roaring success and well worth the anticipation that builds up all year. Matt & I have a nice little tan, and Steven came home with plugged ears, poor thing. Thanks to everyone for the awesome time, and we look forward to next year!